Counting Blessings....

 So we have gotten to start a garden!  YEA!!!!  FINALLY - it has been 3 years since we last had a garden.  I think because we knew that our last home was not our permanent home within 6 months of moving in and bringing Michael home.  Then just you know- life etc.  So we are back at gardening again and I love it!!! 

 The kids loved this- I did NOT!  EEWWWWW  that is so gross looking to me. 

 They got to work helping me turn over the soil in our new garden that is 5' wide x 20' long.  That way we don't have to "step through" the garden all the time to pull weeds or get the veggies and fruits.  We are planting- sunflowers (probably not in the actual garden area), cucumbers, onions, carrots, tomatoes, and watermelon.  We also bought a blueberry bush, raspberry bush, and black raspberry bush.  We will see if they take off because right now they are just sticks in the ground ;).

Eventually I want to add another 5'x20' garden as well and add more citrus fruit trees to our yard!!!  I love having the space and it is a great family project :).  Bring on the veggies and fruits!!! 

 I was blessed with a ticket from anonymous to go to our sisterhood night out (at the church).  YEA!!!!!  It was so much fun and I had a great time :).  The money went toward camp scholarships and we brought tons of diapers to bless our Life Care center!  :)  WIN WIN!!!

 Then the next morning we WALKED FOR LIFE!!!  Our family raised $400 for Life Care!!!!  IT WAS A BLESSING FOR US!!!  We support life and the many people it takes to give women a choice.  A Life Care Center that has an office that is specifically for women to get ultrasounds and counsels and supports them in the difficult decisions!

Also healing for women who have made decisions that they never told anyone about and are still grieving!  God forgives and LOVES no matter what!  I love that truth!!!! 

 Later that day it stormed as in monsoon type craziness.....but Jason and I persisted on our night out.  We went - here to the England Pride shop :).  YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We got some things for fun and it was a great time looking through all the English candies, decor, and fun bits and pieces they had. 

 This was one of our special treats!!!  Lion bar has gooey caramel, crispy cereal, and is AMAZING!!  I love them, but typically you can't get them here. 

 Then we headed to the beach!  It was raining part of the time, but only a sprinkle.  Of course we joked that it was like being in England at the beach ;).  Except much warmer!!! 

 Jason and I got some time away to talk for a while......

 Jason was feeling how cold the water was.  Because the only people  in the water were a few Northerners.  How do I know they were Northerners?  Because people from the south do NOT ever swim when it is still chilly out!  When we traveled down from Iowa- no big deal we jumped in no matter what the temp.  Now, ummm.....NO WAY!!!  ;)

 We then ate at Spaghetti Warehouse.  I was only slightly disturbed to see this "old advert sign". 

 Oh yes they did put this in the public restroom ;).  Hilarious!!! 

 We were walking around Ybor City.  This is a very historic part of the Tampa Bay area. 

 To me it was like the "New Orleans" feel with lets see.....every other place was a - tattoo place, pub/bar/club, pizza place, etc.  Definitely a different feel than your average place to be.  Very different and unique.  There were no other shops in the area well except some very iffy places if you know what I mean. 

 So this last Monday after 3 weeks of crowd ratings of 9-10 we went back to Disney!!!! 

 We went to Hollywood Studios. 

 It was a perfect day with cool temps and plenty of fun! 

 Crowds were definitely less!!!  We decided to go to the Beauty and the Beast production they have there.  I was very well done!!! 

 We enjoyed the show

 as you can tell......and then we were told by one of staff members to wait after it was over.  I thought at first it had something to do with the exit for "wheelchairs" kind of thing.  Then we realized it had to do with a special request from "Belle". 

 After waiting a few minutes- they led us up the side to meet Belle!!!! 

 We were the only ones there!!!  Awww....Michael loved it too :). 

 So another blessing unexpected, but very fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

All the princesses in our family with Belle :).

I love unexpected blessings!!!!!!!!!!!!  Sometimes I am completely shocked at the crazy Blessings our family receives, but we are very grateful!!!  Praise God for big and small blessings, for those who chose to care about and for others!  THANK YOU to all those anonymous people in our lives that choose to continue to be a blessing!!!  :)